Officers and Board Members

Kirby Jay Carmichael wears many hats. First and doremost is that of a teacher. He taught Art for the Catholic Diocese and opened his own art education studio, teaching more than 60,000 children and adults how to spin clay, melt glass and many other arts. 

He pursued beekeeping while managing a hardware store selling apiary equipment, deciding the best way to learn about bees and assist potential beekeepers was to join TVBA. 

He now works full-time as a Professional Bee Remover and also maintains honey bee colonies for beekeepers with a focus on education moving toward independence.

With an apiary of 20+ colonies, Kirby is always ready to dig into bees and learn more.

From the moment Laura Winters was born she was outside making mud pies and burying insects that had passed on.

With a background of playing guitar and singing she's now a passionate gardener, beekeeper, and chicken tenderer.

When she's not outside building something for her homestead she's an assistant manager at Rooster Home and Hardware assisting customers with how to can their own produce, how to make compost, build earthworm colonies, protect our native wildlife, and so much more. 

Laura loves being a part of Trinity Valley Beekeeping Association so that she can learn so much more from the amazing beekeepers that make this association so special.

Matthew Guerra is married to Lara Guerra (the club’s first VP) and has two children.

A former beekeeper, he had to stop for health reasons. He has been a member of the Trinity Valley Beekeepers Association since its re-inception by Alan Eynon and has been an active participant in the club since then.

Ted Cogan started his interest in beekeeping in a desire to learn more about the nature around him and how he could help our environment on a local level.

Once he had a backyard, it was only a matter of time before he bought his first hive in 2023 and took off.

Ted found TVBA through a chance google search, attended his first class, a membership meeting, and the quickly knew this would become a lifelong hobby of his.

Ted is a resident of Winnetka Heights in Oak Cliff and enjoys small DIY projects on the weekends.

Christi Baughman began beekeeping over 15 years ago. Like many novice beekeepers, she started with just a few hives in her backyard.

It wasn't long, however, that Christi recognized her knack for raising healthy bees, and began to grow her hives and business into beegirl.biz.

Having grown up in North Dakota and currently living in Texas, Christi realized she had access to two prime beekeeping locations in the US.

North Dakota has the highest honey production in the entire country due to its thousands of acres of blooming crops throughout the summer, while east Texas is home to wintered bees thanks to its temperate climate and abundance of spring pollen.

These two locations have led beegirl.biz to become a full-time operation which includes raising nucs and bees, producing North Dakota honey, pollinating almonds in California, and teaching beekeeping classes.

Christi is an active Board Member of the Trinity Valley Beekeepers Association, a North Texas Master Naturalist, a member of North Dakota Beekeepers Association, and a member of the Texas Beekeepers Association.

Pat McKannan is married to his wife Eva. He lived and was raised in Kentucky.

Pat spent 48 years working for the bell system before retiring.

I got into beekeeping probably because of my memories of my father doing it.

Mark Baty

More about Mark coming soon

Laura Wintersalso proudly serves as one of our Board members, in addition to her officer role of Vice President